diff --git a/ionic/components/icon/icon.ts b/ionic/components/icon/icon.ts
index 513738315a..94c469d99d 100644
--- a/ionic/components/icon/icon.ts
+++ b/ionic/components/icon/icon.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import {Directive, Input, ElementRef, Renderer} from 'angular2/core';
+import {Directive, ElementRef, Renderer} from 'angular2/core';
 
 import {Config} from '../../config/config';
 
@@ -10,20 +10,34 @@ import {Config} from '../../config/config';
  * For a full list of available icons, check out the
  * [Ionicons resource docs](../../../../resources/ionicons).
  *
+ * One feature of Ionicons is that when icon names are set, the actual icon
+ * which is rendered can change slightly depending on the mode the app is
+ * running from. For example, by setting the icon name of `alarm`, on iOS the
+ * icon will automatically apply `ios-alarm`, and on Material Design it will
+ * automatically apply `md-alarm`. This allow the developer to write the
+ * markup once, and let Ionic automatically apply the appropriate icon.
+ *
  * @usage
  * ```html
- * <!-- use the appropriate star icon for ios and md -->
+ * <!-- automatically uses the correct "star" icon depending on the mode -->
  * <ion-icon name="star"></ion-icon>
  *
- * <!-- explicity set the icon for each platform -->
+ * <!-- explicity set the icon for each mode -->
  * <ion-icon ios="ios-home" md="md-home"></ion-icon>
+ *
+ * <!-- always use the same icon, no matter what the mode -->
+ * <ion-icon name="ios-clock"></ion-icon>
+ * <ion-icon name="twitter-logo"></ion-icon>
  * ```
  *
  * @property {string} [name] - Use the appropriate icon for the mode.
- * @property {boolean} [isActive] - Whether or not the icon is active. Icons that are not active will use an outlined version of the icon.
- * If there is not an outlined version for the particular icon, it will use the default (full) version.
  * @property {string} [ios] - Explicitly set the icon to use on iOS.
  * @property {string} [md] - Explicitly set the icon to use on Android.
+ * @property {boolean} [isActive] - Whether or not the icon has an "active"
+ * appearance. On iOS an active icon is filled in or full appearance, and an
+ * inactive icon on iOS will use an outlined version of the icon same icon.
+ * Material Design icons do not change appearance depending if they're active
+ * or not. The `isActive` property is largely used by the tabbar.
  * @see {@link /docs/v2/components#icons Icon Component Docs}
  *
  */
@@ -56,7 +70,7 @@ export class Icon {
       // deprecated warning
       console.warn('<icon> has been renamed to <ion-icon>');
       console.warn('<ion-icon> requires the "name" attribute w/ a value');
-      console.warn('<ion-icon name="home"></ion-icon> should now be <ion-icon name="home"></ion-icon>');
+      console.warn('<ion home></icon> should now be <ion-icon name="home"></ion-icon>');
     }
   }
 
@@ -68,7 +82,7 @@ export class Icon {
    * @private
    */
   set name(val) {
-    if (!(/md-|ios-|-logo/.test(val))) {
+    if (!(/^md-|^ios-|-logo$/.test(val))) {
       // this does not have one of the defaults
       // so lets auto add in the mode prefix for them
       val = this.mode + '-' + val;